FIG. 1 depicts telecommunications system 100 in the prior art. Telecommunications system 100 comprises: telecommunications terminals 101-1 through 101-H, wherein H is a positive integer, and server 102, interrelated as shown. Users 103-1 through 103-H are associated with and use telecommunications terminals 101-1 through 101-H, respectively.
Telecommunications terminals 101-1 through 101-H are devices that are capable of communicating with other telecommunications terminals within or external to telecommunications system 100. Examples of such devices are a cellular telephone, an Internet-protocol (IP) deskset, a Session-initiation protocol (SIP) deskset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer, and so forth. Also, terminals 101-1 through 101-H can be different from one another. For example, terminal 101-1 can be a cellular telephone, terminal 102-2 can be a laptop, terminal 102-3 can be a personal digital assistant, and so forth, wherein at least some of the terminals communicate user traffic (e.g., voice calls, emails, instant messages, etc.) with other terminals.
At least some of terminals 101-1 through 101-H are each capable of storing a call log of the calls (or messages) that are: (i) received by the terminal and answered by its user, (ii) originated at the terminal, and (iii) received by the terminal, but missed by its user. Also, at least some of terminals 101-1 through 101-H are also capable of being configured according to their users' preferences. For example, terminal 101-1 can be configured to play various sounds (e.g., ringtones, etc.) that are selected by its user and according to the particular alerting desired for the type of incoming call (or message). Terminal 101-1, as another example, can illuminate its display in different colors or background images based on certain conditions being met that are specified by its user.
In addition to enabling their users to communicate with each other, at least some of terminals 101-1 through 101-H can synchronize with each other some of the data that is stored in each terminal. The synchronization of data across devices is a well-known concept. In general, synchronization takes place between a terminal device and a server device, such as server 102. Server 102 can be an application in a local personal computer or a dedicated synchronization server. Furthermore, some of the data that are stored in the terminals can be synchronized with network applications or desktop computer applications. In particular, data that are related to appointment calendars, address books, to-do lists, and email applications are typically synchronized across devices.
Although synchronization has been based on the use of different manufacturer-specific protocols, where many of which are incompatible with each other, synchronization is becoming increasingly based on a language known and referred to as synchronization markup language (or “SyncML”). SyncML is based on the extensible markup language (XML). The SyncML synchronization protocol works both in wireless and in wired networks, and supports several transmission protocols. By using a SyncML synchronization protocol, which employs messages that are in the SyncML format, data of various applications can be synchronized between networked terminals and network servers of various kinds.